MLA Subconference: Between the Public and Its Privates

We are an evolving group of graduate students, adjunct faculty, and independent researchers in the humanities who are interested in creating a new kind of conference environment, in which to discuss alternative professional, social, and political possibilities for ourselves and our peers. We see the Subconference as an open, collective endeavor that works in solidarity with both non-academic peers and academic allies.

Why did we choose our theme, "Between the Public and Its Privates"?

Today it seems almost impossible to point to the public without uncovering its uncanny twin–the private. Consider Google’s Hangout, a competitor with Skype, which is privatized software but sounds open and accessible; Google Books, an intermingling of private technology and the public domain; the channeling of tax dollars to everything from private ambulance services to charter schools; and the unforgettable Kraft Macaroni & Cheese sculpture that graced the University of Michigan’s stadium for a brief stint. The third year of the MLA Subconference seeks to locate how the notion of the “public” often hides its secret promiscuity with the private.

We turn to the public and its privates not simply to critique their intimacy but also to seek other modes of study, such as those found in the commons, obscured by hard and fast public/private distinctions. We look to the free schools, Blank Panther education projects, deschooling, indigenous language study, and mutual aid networks that have so frequently filled the gaps of public services. Following them, this conference seeks to create a space in which reading and conversation is a political and militant act, and where political organizing is an educational and pedagogical project.

2:00-3:30 PM: Panel 3Capitalism As the Public Negotiation of the Private? (Daniella Gáti)David Foster Wallace, Dave W., and Saint Dave (Ándrea Laurencell Sheridan)Sex: It’s All in the Family (Mary Zaborskis)